Ultrasonic cleaners

[ilcop22]

Howdy,

My part time gig is as an armorer/gunsmith, so I've been looking into getting an ultrasonic cleaner to supplement my cleaning routine. I understand that, unless I buy a really expensive unit, the cleaners only really assist in the cleaning and aren't self-reliant, so to speak.

That being said, is there much of a difference between the L&R HCS2000 Brownell's and Midway sells and a small parts/jewelers cleaner such as the Harbor Freight cleaner? (http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-cleaner-95563.html)

I'm not seeing a whole lot of difference, but I may be wrong. Anyone with some knowledge or experience, please shed some light on this.

Thank you.

[calaloo]

I recently bought a cheap unit on ebay. It works very well and supprised me how well and fast it cleaned cartridge cases. That being said, it has a plastic basket designed to hold the parts being cleaned. This basket absorbs much of the energy produced which hampers the cleaning of the parts. Parts are not to be placed on the bottom of the tank as the practice permently degrades the sound producing element. All-in-all I like it and don't think I would spend the extra bucks fot the Hornady as I believe they are virtually the same.

The wife likes it too. cleans the hound out of jewelery.

[danski26]

I have one in my armory. It is the Brownells model. It has its limitations but it is a nice tool to have. Don't think it is a "set and forget" thing though. Some parts work well when cleaned in it others it takes the finish off and causes more trouble than it helps. I don't have any experience with the cheap one. I can say the Brownells model has been running strong for about six years with no signs on a breakdown.

[Buckshot]

...............I have the HF unit in your URL. It has done a fine job so far on everything I've put in it. I bought a bottle of their powdered cleaner (made in the USA). One item I'd used in it was a grungy milsurp triggerguard/magazinebox. It cleaned up 98% of it but petrified grease/oil/grunge/dirt in some inside corners still had to be removed with a toothpick.

The other parts, trigger/sear, bolt stop, rear sight slide & elevator, and misc screws cleaned up squeaky clean. When I turned the unit on you could see almost immediately a gray cloud forming around each part. Soon all the liquid took on an opaque gray look as it cut the junk loose.

THis unit is my first and I've never seen another work so cannot compare it to anything else. However the parts that c ame out (except as mentioned above) were that sticky, draggy, bare metal clean that means you'd better dry'em and oil'em or they'd have rust spots in the AM!

.................Buckshot